Javier Botet: biography
Javier Botet is a Spanish actor and director, the star of international horrors. Javier has become a high-demand professional for his unusual appearance that gave him the chance to make an excellent career in horror movies. Today, he stars in many projects. However, the actor confessed in one of his interviews he had not thought he would devote his life to cinematography.
Childhood and youth
Javier and his parents, Agustín Rodríguez and María del Carmen Servilia López Nieto, lived in Ciudad Real, south Spain until the boy turned four. Due to the father’s work, the family moved to Cuenca and, later, Granada, where the boy went to a school of visual arts.
At the age of six, Botet was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease: Marfan syndrome (one case in 5000). Such people are tall and have hyperplastic bones and joints and thin body. The actor’s height is 6.56 ft. (200 cm.), and his weight is no more than 110.23-132.27 lbs. (50-60 kg.)
If these people are not treated the right way, they may end up in a wheelchair and die before 50. However, the disease turned out to be a road-opener to Hollywood and made the man famous.
When Botet was a child, he liked to pose in front of a mirror and twist his body. Still, he could hardly think of becoming an actor at that period.
Movies
The future horror master got acquainted with cinematography when he was a college student. By that time, the young man had moved to Madrid and got hired as a book illustrator. One day, his friend offered to take up special-effects artist courses. Botet liked the novel, original idea and started studying on weekends.
In 2005, one of the teachers introduced the young man to the director Brian Yuzna who immediately took an interest in Javier’s appearance. Thus, 27-year-old Botet collaborated with the Filmax studio and played his first monster character in the movie Beneath Still Waters. According to the actor, filming was challenging for him: it took some six or seven hours to make up, and he had to work in ice-cold water.
After this movie, Botet participated in several little-known Spanish series. In 2007, the actor appeared in the zombie franchise REC that proved to be a tremendous success all over the globe. Soon, Javier received many offers from Spanish directors.
It is interesting that the actor played female ghosts and monsters in many projects: REC, Mara, Mama, and Crimson Peak by Guillermo del Toro. Javier is a talented artist who can personify any characters, even those whom other actors would never play. For this reason, some people accuse movie makers of using too much computer graphics: they cannot believe that a human being played such monsters.
There is a video of the actor’s terrifying auditions on the Internet; many users found it interesting. Guillermo del Toro invited the actor to play three various ghosts in the movie Crimson Peak.
In addition to acting, Javier Botet tried himself as a scriptwriter, director, and producer in the 2013 movie Al final todos mueren (Everyone Dies at The End). The movie The Revenant that brought Leonardo DiCaprio the long-awaited Academy Award also starred Botet: he personified a terrible character whom the protagonist saw in his nightmare.
At the same time, the actor worked on the horror thriller The Other Side of the Door by Johannes Roberts. The Spanish played an Indian demon Myrtu with four arms who terrorized a young American couple.
Since 2017, the artist has appeared in top international projects, for instance, It and Slender Man. As Botet mentioned, directors and producers invited him to their new projects right after the old one was finished, and sometimes, the same crew participated in new movies. The actor expressed his doubt that he would be invited to two parts of It if it had not been for his previous works.
Javier Botet dreams of appearing in Star Wars: it has been his childhood dream, so he would be happy if he had even a small role.
Personal life
There is little information about the actor’s personal life. One can see some photos with two children on his Instagram page: they are likely to be the man’s sons. Botet never mentions his wife in interviews, and people can only guess what she could be like.
In his free time, Javier likes to travel and go out with his friends. The actor views his work positively: Botet enjoys meeting new people and communicating. Besides, he mentions that his disease does not interfere with his life, and he has learned how to gain benefit from it.
Present days
Today, the actor is involved in two projects one of which is the second part of Stephen King’s It. The premiere will take place in 2019. Another project, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, has been directed by André Øvredal. It is a story about a group of teenagers who investigate terrible deaths in their home town; the premiere is scheduled for November 7, 2019.
When journalists ask Botet if he plans to work as a movie art director, he marks that modern horrors are notable for their high-quality special effects. Artists need to be experienced in movie making and understand the psychology of this genre. According to Javier, he lacks experience; however, the man added he could probably start working in this sphere if he got tired of playing monsters.
Filmography
- 2001 - Cuéntame cómo pasó (Tell Me How It Happened)
- 2005 - Beneath Still Waters
- 2006 – Genesis
- 2007 – REC
- 2010 - The Last Circus
- 2013 – Mama
- 2014 - Al final todos mueren (Everyone Dies at The End)
- 2015 – Crimson Peak
- 2015 - The Revenant
- 2016 - The Conjuring 2
- 2016 - The Other Side of the Door
- 2017 – Polaroid
- 2018 - Slender Man
- 2018 – Mara
- 2019 - Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
- 2019 - It: Chapter Two
